Spring suspension



April 1941' w. H. MANNING 2.237.056

SPRING SUSPENSION Filed Jan. 27, 1940 @l Znwentor lid/fax? )ffimm 'lydttomegs Patented Apr. 1, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SPRINGSUSPENSIQN Application January 27, 1940, Serial No. 315,911

3 Claims.

This invention relates to wheeled vehicles and has particular referenceto the spring suspension of an automotive vehicle.

It is customary to use a leaf spring at each side of the vehicle tosuspend the rear end of the frame from the axle, the leaf springs beingattached to the frame by a pivot at one end and by a shackle at theother end. The shackles have been of the same type, either both intension or both in compression.

With this prior art installation or mounting of the rear leaf springs,it has been found that when one wheel is caused to rise by passing overa projection in the road, this raising of the wheel will cause thesprings to move with the axle and cause them to be given a twist. Whenlooking from the rear end of the vehicle, if the left-hand wheel israised, both springs will move in a clockwise direction which willtransmit a corresponding movement to the spring shackles and thisclockwise movement will transmit its force to the frame, both forcesbeing then toward the right. Similarly, if the right-hand wheel israised, the rotation of the springs will be in a counterclockwisedirection and the movement of the shackles will also be counterclockwiseso that the motion transmitted to the frame will be to the left and oneside will add to the movement of the other side to give to the body whatis known as cross shake, that is, a relative movement between the bodyand the wheels.

In order to obviate this cross shake, it has been found that if theshackle on one side is made a compression shackle and the shackle on theother side is forced to act in tension, this additive effect on thetwisting motion of the springs will be neutralized because the forceimparted on one side of the vehicle is counteracted by the force on theother side. In other words, if the right-hand shackle is a compressionshackle and the left-hand shackle is a tension shackle, and theright-hand wheel is raised, the movement of both shackles will be in acounterclockwise direction. The shackle at the right of the vehicle willexert a force acting to the left but the shackle at the left of thevehicle, owing to the fact that ithas a differently arranged fulcrum onthe bracket supporting it from the frame, will cause the force to act tothe left to neutralize the action of the force of the compressionshackle on the other side.

The manner in which the invention and its object are accomplished isillustrated on the accompanying drawing in which:

- the transverse cross members l0 and I2.

Figure 4 is a section on the line 44 of Figure 1 r and showing thecompression shackle.

Referring to the drawing, the vehicle as a whole is indicated at 2. Thevehicle has the usual frame 4 comprising the side bars 6 and 8 and Theusual wheels are indicated at l4 and these wheels supported by the deadaxle l8 which houses the live axle l8. The differential housing isindicated at and the differential carrier at 22. I

The leaf springs of the vehicle are indicated at 24 and the front end ofeach spring is-pivoted to a bracket 26 secured to the frame. The springend 28 is formed into an eye which surrounds a sleeve 30 which has abolt 32 passing through the middle thereof and rubber 34 undercompression fills the space between the parts 30 and 32. The bolt 32extends into the frame and into the bracket 26 to mount the spring end.

The springs 24 are connected to the axle housing l6 by means of the Ubolt 36, the nuts 38, and the securing plate 40. A saddle 42 is securedto the dead axle i6 and serves as a seat for the springs 24. Suitablewear plates 44 are positioned on the two sides of the spring at theplace where it is secured to the axle.

The usual shock absorbers 46 are secured to the frame at their upperends and to extensions 48 on the plate at their lower ends.

At the rear end of the frame one spring 24 is connected by a compressionshackle 50 to the frame. The shackle is pivoted at 52 to a bracket 54secured to the frame and at56 to the spring end. The shackle may be ofthe conventional type comprising two side members connected by spring 24and bracket 54 may be the same as all shown at the left of Figure 3 byparts 28, II, 32 and 34.

The shackle vtil at the other side of the vehicle is a tension shackle,and instead of being secured to a bracket closely adjacent the frame, issecured to the downwardly projecting end 62 of a bracket 64 which is.secured to the frame. The shackle extends upwardly from its pivotalconnection 66 to the bracket and the other shackle end is pivoted at 68to the end of the spring 24.

'From the description given it will beapparent that the weight of thevehicle as it acts on the frame and downwardly through the axle willplace the shackle 50 under compression and the shackle '60 undertension.

With the structure as described, it will be apparent that when theright-hand wheel in Figure 1 is raised, the springs 24 at both sideswill be given a counterclockwise rotation which in turn will becommunicated to the shackles 50 and 60, likewise to cause them to have acounterclockwise rotation. This counterclockwise rotation on thecompression shackle 50 will cause a reaction through the bracket54 onthe frame 4 in the direction of the arrow A shown in Figure l. Thecounterclockwise movement of the shackle 60 at the left side of thevehicle will cause a reaction through the bracket 64 and communicate itsforce to the frame in the right-hand direction as indicated by the arrowB, so that the forces from the two springs will be in oppositedirections intended to neutralize each other and diminish cross shake,or the relative movement between the body and'the wheels.

I claim:

1. In a spring suspension for a vehicle having a frame supported bywheels mounted on an axle, leaf springs interconnecting the axle withthe vehicle frame, one spring only at each side of the vehicle, saidsprings being movably connected at both ends to the frame,the'rearwardmost ends of said springs each having a shackle between thespring end and the frame, one of said shackles being in tension and theother shackle in compression.

, 2. In a spring suspension for a vehicle having a frame supported bywheels mounted on an axle, leaf springs interconnecting the axle withthe vehicle frame, one spring only at each side of the vehicle, saidsprings being movably connected at both ends to the frame, therearwardmost ends of said springs each having a shackle between thespring end and the frame, one of said shackles extending in a downwardlydirection and being directly pivoted at its upper end to the frame, theother shackle extending in an upward direction and being pivoted at itslower end to a bracket secured to the frame.

3. In a spring suspension for a vehicle having a frame supported bywheels mounted on an axle, leaf springs interconnecting the axle withthe vehicle frame, one spring only at each side of the vehicle, saidsprings being movably connected at both ends to the frame, therearwardmost ends of said springs each having a shackle between thespring end and the frame, one of said shackles extending in a downwardlydirection and being pivoted atits upper end to the frame, the othershackle extending in an upward direction and being pivoted at its lowerend to a bracket secured to the frame and having the pivoted part at theupward end in substantial alignment with the pivoted lower end of theother shackle.

WILLIAM H. MANNING.

